The Edged and Firing Weapons’ Collection constitutes, from a time line point of view, one of the first collections of the National Military Museum. Its beginnings are tributary to an 1865 order given by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza which stated that weapons that were obsolete and were of some interest to military history, were to be kept in the Army’s Arsenal. In time, the collection started to grow, based on this, and also by the military captured material which was collected along various campaigns. Another source of enriching the collection is done by exchanges with other institutions, as well as private or institutional donations. Today this collection counts over 11650 items.
The collection has regular, hunting, civilian, sportive weaponry, munitions and accessories. Here we may also include elements of individual protection, that can constitute a collection themselves with over 800 items. From a typological point of view, all the items can be divided into Eastern and Western types, with a well-represented Balkan subdivision, as well as quite a large number of African type weapons. From a chronological point of view, the collection expands over quite a large time span, around 700 years, beginning in late 13th century and ending in the late 1990’s.
The general exhibition of the museum displays around 1000 items which indicate the Romanian military phenomenon equipping through the ages, among them being placed pieces edged and fire weaponry which belonged to various important national historical figures.
In order to answer to the interest of a large sector of the public, regarding the weapons used by other countries also, the museum has organised a permanent weapons exhibition, as well, structured into three sections: Medieval Weapons, Modern Weapons and Hunting and Collectable Weapons. Thus, more than 1000 weapons and accessories are put on display. By all these permanent exhibitions, the weapons collection brings to the public’s attention over 17% of its inventory, a larger than average percentage within the Military Museum’s displayed items.
